Decking the Halls | Brrrrrrrrrrr!

We decorated our Christmas tree yesterday. Spencer loved pulling out all the ornaments and asking me about them. Before we had Spencer, Dave and I always did a more "designer" tree, but now I love using old fashioned ornaments, many of which have a story behind them.

It was chilly this morning so Spencer had to bundle up for school. Wait til you see the other hat I bought him this weekend...gotta get a picture of that one. 

Also, I finally added a November photo album, but Picasa is acting weird and all of the pictures haven't loaded yet. You'll have to check back later because I have to scoot to band practice now.

Note: I discovered the problem - I ran out of Google storage space. Upgrading now and pictures should be online tomorrow.

Thanksgiving at Pine Fork

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at Pine Fork. This year we did a combo family event. From the Rives/Ruston side we had Paw-Paw, Aunt Dianne, Uncle Scott, Aunt Renee, Steven and Chris. From the Horridge/Smith side we had Geep, Pop, Aunt Janice, Uncle Gary, Austin, Uncle Rick, Aunt Susan, Shelby and Eric. We thought about Grannie a lot, but being all together in a relaxing environment like the ranch really helped!

We didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few scenes from the day, including Pop and Spencer fishing; Uncle Gary and Spencer hanging peanut butter pine cones for the birds; Dave carving the turkey; EZ tractor rides; and a fun family photo in front of the Spencer Spruce, which, along with some other trees on the property, was beautifully decorated for the holiday.

Oh, and did I mention that the Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A&M Aggies 27-25? Hook 'Em!

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks

We had a pre-Thanksgiving celebration at Spencer's school last Friday. Paw-Paw was visiting and got to join us. There was lots of yummy food and all sorts of fun decorations that the children made. That little turkey hand is one of my favorite things ever!

You might notice the scrape on Spencer's cheek. He took a terrible spill last Wednesday - he tried to step up onto the couch while holding a banana and glass of milk. He fell off and hit his face on the coffee table. I guess his skin rubbed against the glass really hard and it created something like an open blister. We thought he would have a black eye for sure, but luckily it just has a hint of blue around the big ole' scab.

Weekend Roundup

I haven't been updating Spencer's blog much lately, huh? Will try to do better, starting now with a little weekend roundup. Went to our first birthday party at Build-a-Bear for one of Spencer's classmates on Saturday. I was not looking forward to this event because that store just sort of creeps me out. I think Spencer was a little overwhelmed by all the choices but he ended up having a pretty good time. He came home with a karate bear he named Heart.

After the party we watched the second half of our football game (blah) with Garven, Kit, Patrick and a few other folks. Spencer was such a little gentleman at Kit's house and everyone was commenting on how polite, sweet and fun he was. It was a really great day!

This morning Spencer and I made "cloud dough." This is an activity we will do again for sure. We mixed flour and baby oil and the result is a damp sand-like substance that is fun to dig in, mold and smoosh with your fingers.

Later, I packed a picnic lunch for all of us and we headed to Butler Park. Spencer rode his scooter for awhile. This was the first time I've gotten to see him ride in a park where he can really get going. He is so cute on that thing - and brave! He took a little spill and scraped his knee. It really didn't seem like a bad scrape at all, but for some reason he got extremely upset to the point that we eventually had to pack up our lunch and leave the park. I started thinking maybe he had injured himself some other way - like strained a muscle or something - but he kept saying it was just the scrape. Part of me thinks he got embarrassed about falling because there were some other people around. It was hard seeing him that upset and nothing we did helped. But before that little spill, he was a total thrasher!

Spencer and I took a stroll down to Starbucks this afternoon, too. Then he played his guitar while I practiced my clarinet for a little while. I really enjoyed having so much one-on-one time with him today. He told me, "Mommy, you're the loviest lovey-est Mommy in the world." Sigh...

p.s. If you get emails when I update the blog, sorry for the multiple notifications. Trying to fix some weird spacing...

Trick-or-Treat 2011

Hard to believe this was Spencer's fourth Halloween. He was just 3 weeks old in 2008; had chicken pox in 2009; was a cute little cowboy in 2010; and this year, Spencer the Happy Ghost made the rounds. Thank goodness the random 105° fever he had over the weekend didn't last!

Daddy and Spencer carved our jack-o-lantern Monday afternoon. Spencer wanted him to have a grouchy/grumpy face and Daddy worked his magic.

We have to give major props to Daddy for constructing Spencer's costume. Spencer had been telling us for two months that he wanted to be a happy ghost this year. So Daddy borrowed a sewing machine from Lisa and created the cutest little ghost costume while I was in Minneapolis last week. For you Project Runway fans, it was definitely a "make it work" moment!

We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for about an hour. After he got acclimated to what was going on, Spencer had a blast and came home with a pumpkin full of candy. I told him he could have a treat so he sat on the floor and started digging through the bucket, but then he said, "I don't want to eat any candy. I just want to get ready for bedtime." Ahhhh, music to my ears! For those of you who are afraid we don't let the child eat sweets, here is evidence to the contrary - having a Twix after his school party. (Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?)

Remember the I'm a Cowboy video from last Halloween? I took a little footage at the same house this year for comparison. Our little guy sure is growing up. Hope you had a wonderful and spooky Halloween!